Vikings learn again, in defeat, that mobile quarterbacks are mandatory in the NFL

The Vikings were saying goodbye to a bittersweet season when Eric Kendricks was asked to share the pain that comes with playing the kind of quarterback who can throw 35 times for 301 yards while running 17 times for 78 yards.

"That's just the league nowadays," the inside linebacker said Monday, a day after Giants quarterback Daniel Jones used the Vikings' loose defense to boost his reputation — and likely his bank account — mightily in a 31-24 wild-card upset of the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Kendricks was still answering the question when a video of Tom Brady appeared on the television screen inside the Vikings' locker room. Brady, perhaps the last elite pure pocket-passing quarterback the game will ever see, would go on to play and get destroyed by the Cowboys in the NFL's final wild-card game Monday night.

Obviously, the league never will see another Tom Brady in terms of success and longevity. But, Eric, do you think the NFL will ever see another quarterback with the G.O.A.T.'s strictly pocket-passing style? The kind of style that saw Tom "run" 29 times for minus-1 yard this season?

"No," Kendricks laughed. "No, I don't.

"Like, man, I'm trying to think of any of the new quarterbacks in the league who are strictly a pocket quarterback, and I can't think of any. I think almost all quarterbacks today can run. I mean, even [Vikings quarterback] Kirk Cousins is an athlete when he gets loose. He doesn't do it very often, but he's a pocket quarterback who can run, too. When he does it."

Eight starting quarterbacks remain in the hunt for Super Bowl LVII. Four of them — Philadelphia's Jalen Hurts, 24; Buffalo's Josh Allen, 26; Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, 27; and Jones, 25 — are the second-leading rushers on their teams. The other four — San Francisco's Brock Purdy, Dallas' Dak Prescott, Cincinnati's Joe Burrow and Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence — can move as well.

Mahomes, the likely league MVP this year, averaged 5.9 yards on 61 carries with four touchdowns. Hurts, another MVP candidate, ran for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns, one shy of the league record for a quarterback. Jones ran for 708 yards and seven touchdowns during the regular season and then made his career postseason debut by becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game while throwing for 300 or more yards and rushing for 75 or more yards.

And then there's Allen. If defenders like the 6-0, 232-pound Kendricks thought the 6-5, 221-pound Jones was a load, here comes the 6-5, 237-pound Allen.

Allen has played the Vikings twice in his career. A win as a rookie in 2018 and an overtime loss this year. He ran 16 times for 123 yards (7.7 average) and two touchdowns in those two games.

Asked what he thought the first time he tackled the bigger and, who knows, faster quarterback, Kendricks smiled and said, "Looking at him, I felt like it wasn't sustainable. It was crazy. I've never seen anything like him.

"And," Kendricks was quick to add, "let's not forget."

What's that?

"Quarterbacks also have a halo around them," Kendricks said. "They get protected. A guy like Josh Allen can run at you full speed and at the last second slide."

Or, as Jordan Hicks, the Vikings' other inside linebacker, added, "he can flick his wrist and the ball's going 50 yards downfield."

"As a defender, you're in that no-man's land," Kendricks said. "You're bracing for this guy who's now bigger than you coming at you. And you're thinking, 'Do I hit him? Get fined $30,000 or whatever?' I get it. It's for the safety of the league. But look around the league. There's a whole other level of quarterback play that's going on every week, especially the playoffs."

Yep. The now-idle Vikings know that all too well. While Jones was gouging the Vikings defense with his arm and legs, Cousins stayed in the pocket and chose a checkdown pass on fourth-and-8 with the season on the line rather than a running lane to his right that could have extended the play and at least bought time for a desperation pass to Justin Jefferson, the best receiver on the planet.